1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to plastic fasteners, and more particularly to plastic fasteners of the type having expandable locking means for securely maintaining the fasteners in place within an opening.
2. Background Art
Plastic fastening devices having expandable locking means are well known. For example, several fastening devices of this type are described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 3,651,734. While these devices work very well in a wide range of applications there is room for improvement of them in several important respects.
For example, one type of such fastening device includes a hook portion, and a plurality of these devices are commonly secured to a wall to hold a rack, such as a tool rack or a merchandise display rack, up against that wall. These particular fastening devices are normally locked within a wall opening by means of a screw that is inserted through a screw opening in the device and that engages a toggle lock thereof to hold that lock in an overcenter position. The hook portions of these fasteners are spaced an appreciable distance from the specific portions of the devices that form those screw openings, so that, in use, the screws inserted through the screw openings do not directly support the hook portions of the fasteners or any weight mounted thereon. This problem would also exist when these fastening devices are secured to ceilings, and a similar problem is encountered when other types of fastening devices are attached to floors or decks and used as supports for other structural members.
Also no prior art device of the general type outlined above has been specifically designed for use as a harness that may be employed to gather together a bundle of wires or cables, and in particular, that may be used to hold together wire or cable bundles of various thicknesses. Moreover, prior art fasteners of the general type previously described have not been particularly designed for attachment to ropes or cables, with the toggle locks of the fasteners free to attach the ropes or cables, as desired or needed, to some other device such as a bracket or ring that, in turn, is rigidly secured to a boat deck or dock, or to a ceiling, floor, or wall member.